


back to back, you stand together

by orphan_account



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Mild Blood, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-11-02 13:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10945665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Her powers are gone when she's shot, flaring with the sun. It makes Alex itchy, makes her want to claw her skin out as she watches her, wishes she had paid more attention to Kara than letting her love life replace the rest of her life.  Maggie's hand in hers help, but this is Kara and she's not going to make that mistake again.





	1. Chapter 1

Her hands are shaking as she walks towards the robbers. It’s an off day, Kara’s powers flaring, the sun hidden behind clouds heavy with rain. She knows Kara, knows how much she would rather dive in than leave someone else in danger, but this is different, this is something that could have been avoided.

She curses herself for letting her go out like this when she should have kept her home, curses herself for not finding out about the Supergirl defense sooner. Kara should have been her number one priority, should have been the one at the fore-front of her thoughts today but she hadn’t been and now this is happening, is something that can no longer be stopped.

The first punch stings, followed up by a kick to the head of another of the robbers. She’s messy, harsh, but this is Kara and all she can think as she catches a glance of Lena Luthor attempting to extract the kryptonite bullets from her system, is that she should have been there, should have taken better care of her.

There’s a click and then the cold metal of a gun pressed to her head. She’s been careless, forgotten that these aren’t actually robbers, not when they have equipment that they can sneak right past her. She growls, spinning and grabbing the weapon with both hands.

“Go ahead and shoot because right now? You really don’t want to test me.”

There’s a pause before the sound of the gunshot. Alex expects pain, expects something other than the cold, hard feeling that takes her over as she stares blankly at the man as he falls, blood seeping through the shoulder of his shirt.

She looks at Lena, raises an eyebrow when she sees the pistol in her dripping hands and the bullets scattered on the floor around her.

“I’m not sure how many were in there, Agent…?”

“Danvers.”

“Right. Well, I’m not sure how many she took before she collapsed, but I got out as many as I could.” She gets up and retreats to her desk, wiping the blood from her fingers as she picks up the phone there. Alex notes just how steady her hands are. “Supergirl is a friend, so if there’s anything you need right now, I’ll get it to you immediately.”

She doesn’t miss the expectant expression Lena wears, the way she waits for Alex to speak with the air of something close to a question, a doubt. She’s almost tempted to say nothing, to take care of this herself, but she can’t.

“Transport. Preferably something discreet enough that I can drive it without it being recognized as yours.” She hands her a card. “And I need you to call this number. The person on the other end is a friend and they need to know that I’m bringing her in.”

Lena is already dialing, but Alex pays her no mind. She falls to her knees and slips her arm under Kara’s head almost immediately, cradles her close despite the blood that gets on her clothes.

“Hey, Supergirl.”

“A-Alex?”

“Yeah, yeah it’s me. I need you to hold on for me, okay? I came as soon as I could.”

Kara smiles at her, tries to move closer, only to flinch and groan in pain. Alex shakes her head, grabs her fingers and tangles them with her trembling digits.

“Not yet. Gotta get you help first.”

Kara nods, leans against the arm under her. She wants to yell at her to stay awake, knows that she needs her to stay with her, but she can’t stop herself from giving Kara what she wants, from letting her close her eyes when she shouldn’t.

“Hold on, Kara.” She doesn’t care if Lena hears her at this point. She just needs Kara to be okay. “I’m gonna get you back to the D.E.O. and then we’re going to make sure everything’s out of your system. You’ll be good as new soon enough.”

Kara’s smile is weak as she seems to absorb Alex’s words. Alex doesn’t know if she’s convinced, but she has to be, because she sure as hell isn’t giving up on her just yet.

She glances at Lena.

“What’s taking so long?”

The other woman raises her eyebrow. It makes Alex wonder just how close these two are, makes her want to lash out when she finds that she can’t answer that question for herself anymore. Once upon a time, she might have, but now? Covered in Kara’s blood?

Well, she had to realise just how far they’d drifted some time, right?

“I’ve called for a private car. I’m assuming you know how to drive stick?”

“Odd time for innuendo but yeah, I do.”

Lena’s lip curls, as if she wants to smile, but she doesn’t. Alex wonders what would happen if the woman actually managed to stop being so uptight for a moment, but she shakes the thought away.

Kara. She has to focus on Kara. She has to focus on keeping her alive long enough to fix her mistakes, to make everything right again.

Her phone rings, startles her out of her thoughts. She thinks about not answering for a second, about ignoring everything in favour of the woman she’s holding, but then Kara’s slipping her hand into her jeans, dangling the device weakly in front of her.

“Answer…Answer it Alex. You need…to tell Maggie where you…where you are.”

“Kara…”

She shakes her head. “You’re not alone anymore, Alex. You have to think about everyone else now too.”

Kara’s voice is soft, supportive, but the words are like a slap in her face. Of course she’s not alone. She hasn’t been alone since she was fourteen and looking down from that stupid window, but Kara doesn’t mean that, doesn’t mean anything but that Alex has a girlfriend now. She doesn’t mean anything other than that Alex has supposedly found happiness now.

She takes the device in a trembling grasp, fumbles with it for a second before she remembers how to answer it, how to press down on the screen gently enough that it won’t break and God, isn’t that just the perfect metaphor for how her feelings are messing her mind up at the moment?

“Hey Mags. There’s been a problem…”


	2. Chapter 2

Kara is in critical condition, is suffering in a way that Alex cannot help, cannot fix no matter how much she wants to. Her hand are shaking too much, are shaking from the fear and adrenaline, from the helplessness she feels as she watches the surgeons operate from the observation deck.

She paces, growls every time something goes against the plan the surgeons set in place. She knows that she should be down there, knows that she’s the only person she trusts with Kara’s health, but she can’t stop herself from shaking long enough to hold a scalpel and not do more damage than good.

J’onn stops her, forces her to sit before leaving her to her thoughts. She’s grateful, in a way, but her body needs to move, needs to do something, anything to stop her from freaking out, from believing that she’ll lose Kara.

She can’t lose her, can’t let her go before she does. Kara is the light and goodness and everything that Alex can’t be, and she can’t _die_ for Lena Luthor after all that Alex has done to keep her alive.

Arms wrap around her waist and she turns, buries her head in Maggie’s neck as she cries. She can’t lose Kara. She can’t lose the only person who’s been her world for so long.

“It’s going to be alright Danvers. She’s Supergirl. She’ll pull through.”

She appreciates it, appreciates this kindness more than she can say, but Maggie’s words don’t mean anything when all she can see is blood and kryptonite staining the table with a mottled red and green colour. All she can see is Kara’s life fading before her eyes and she feels so useless.

That should be her down there, should be her cutting her open, _saving_ her, but she can’t stop shaking long enough to do that. She pulls away, forces herself to breathe. Alex needs to focus, to calm down.

She needs a drink, but she owes Kara more than that.

“Okay. I need to calm down. I need…I need to focus.”

She starts pacing again, glancing down at the operating theatre. An alarm goes off and Kara starts hemorrhaging. Alex swallows and then she’s running, scrubbing in quickly and pushing aside the lead surgeon.

“Agent Danvers, you’re not authorized to be in here.”

“Dr. Landon, with all due respect, I’m the only one who can save her. Now, scalpel and suction near her heart.”

“That could cause extreme damage. It’s shredded to bits.”

“Suction, Dr. Landon. I don’t have time for disagreements.”

She works carefully, quietly after that. Her hands are covered in Kara’s blood again but she ignores it, pushes past the bile in her throat as she probes her heart, extracts each bullet. She holds one up to the light, notices the marks on it before passing the container to an agent waiting in the background.

“I want those taken to my lab. Don’t clean them. They need to be preserved just as they are.”

“Ma’am?”

“Someone prepared those men for Supergirl. We need to find out who.”

“Of course Ma’am.”

She dismisses him, returns to the problem at hand. Kara’s heart is shredded, barely beating. She tries to shock her back into a stronger pulse but it doesn’t work and she has to step away.

“Install…install a pacemaker as best you can and then sew her back up. Keep her sedated and under life support under the red sun lamps.”

“But those are experimental.”

“I know that and I don’t care. Supergirl is dying and we are not about to let that happen, do you understand me Doctor?”

The man puts his hands up, nods. She dismisses him and leaves, pulling off her gloves. She needs to think, to work on a way to fix this. She can’t just leave it like this, knows that there’s more at stake here than just herself, than just her relationship with Kara and everything they’ve left unsaid.

She makes her way to the lab, starts pulling out old notes and studies she’d done when she was younger, still thirsting to prove that she could be like her father, still live up to the legacy he’d left behind.

There’s too much to study, too much to sift through, but Kara needs this, needs her. She needs everything that Alex can give her to help her survive. She needs everything that Alex can find.

* * *

 

It’s dark by the time Alex leaves the D.E.O. Her eyes are burning and she’s shaking from a lack of food and sleep. She knows that she should take better care of herself, that Kara deserves more from her, deserves more than a devotion that would see her falling apart before she can do anything.

Kara wouldn’t want that, would hate her for it. She would hate the way Alex is more than willing to sacrifice herself for a cause that she never should have been involved in. She’s always hated it, always hated that Alex has had to give up so much for her already but Alex also knows her sister better than anyone else, knows that in working with her, Kara gets to be selfish, gets to have Alex to herself when she normally can’t anymore.

Her hands shake at that thought and she has to wonder when things had changed, when things had become so messed up that Kara needs to be selfish with her. When had everything shifted until Kara was so far away from her that she didn’t know where she was when she was in danger?

It’s something she can’t figure out, can’t think about at the moment. It’s just another thing she has to push to the back of her mind, like C.A.D.M.U.S. and her father.

She sighs as she fumbles for her keys, gets on her bike. She needs to get home, needs to start doing research with the library she keep in her office. What she has at work isn’t enough to save Kara, to give Supergirl back to the world.

She drives slowly, can’t afford to speed through National City when her mind is adrift. Schematics cycle through her head over and over again, running through different configurations and materials. She’ll need help, she thinks, a hand as steady as hers, maybe two.

There are so many people she could ask, so many people she doesn’t trust to help her. This is Kara and Alex won’t let her be an experiment, a stepping stone for someone else’s success without her consent. She owes it to her to be better than that, to protect her in a way that she couldn’t before.

She swerves, avoids being hit by a car in her distracted state. Cursing, she has to stop, pull off to the side and just breathe. She needs to stop getting lost in her head, to get back into the present. Dying because she’s distracted isn’t high up on her list of ways to go out and she doubts that it would be helpful in the least.

“Get it together, Danvers. Getting yourself killed before you get home isn’t going to get you closer to a solution.”

She revs the engine, pulls back out into traffic. She needs to get home, to get her hands on her father’s notes before the morning. She can already feel the weight of it, feel how tired she already is and she hasn’t even really begun her research yet.

* * *

 

Alex swings into the residential parking garage of her apartment and shakes her hair out as she removes her helmet. Her hands are steadier now, the warmth of the bike below her a familiar comfort before getting off, heading up to her apartment.

Maggie is waiting for her with takeout and beer, but Alex bypasses it, heads straight to her office. There’s a lockbox beneath the window with biometric locks and two years of dust gathered on it. Wiping the top of it, she breathes out, presses her hand on the lid.

Her father, Kara, her father, Kara. Everything connects back to the two of them all the time and she can’t ever make it last long enough to figure it out. There’s something niggling at the back of her mind, something that she needs to remember, but Alex can’t focus on it long enough to figure out what it is.

Pressing her hand against the lock, she waits for it to click open before she raises the lid. Her father’s journals are nestled beneath a soft blue blanket. She caresses the covers before lifting them out carefully, running her fingers along Jeremiah’s messy scrawl.

She misses him, misses the way he would take her through these notes carefully, explaining his theories. She remembers the way he’d smile when she understood, give her cookies for every problem solved that he gave her.

A hand on her shoulder and a water bottle against her cheek catches her attention. She turns and looks up at Maggie.

“Figured this’d be preferable to what’s on the table. You gonna be here long?”

“Maybe. You don’t need to stay.”

Maggie sighs. “Alright. I’ll pick you up in the morning. Looks like there’s some stuff you’re going to have to carry in.”

Alex nods, kisses her fingers before going back to her books. She doesn’t look up when the door closes, already engrossed in reading. She has an alien to save.


	3. Chapter 3

When she squeezes her hand, Kara doesn’t respond. It kills Alex that she doesn’t, makes her wish, for one moment, that she could find a way to save her sister that didn’t involve taking away something so intrinsic as that which makes her completely organic. It kills her that she has to mess with that, that she has to change Kara so drastically just to make her live.

She strokes her fingers, runs her hand up Kara’s arm to her shoulder. She misses her, misses the way her voice would lilt when she’s telling her about her day, complaining about something Snapper said or telling her about the latest in her prank war with Winn and Vasquez. She misses the way she would smile, that little crinkle in the corner of her eyes becoming slightly more pronounced as she grins.

She can’t do this, can’t live a life that doesn’t have Kara in it. She can’t live without the knowledge that all she has to do is say her name and Kara would be by her side in a flash. It’s too much to think of, too much to have to live without.

Alex sighs, checks Kara’s vitals. They’re falling gradually, slow enough that there’s still time but it’s not enough for her, not enough to relax. She has to do this soon, has to save her, to make sure she wakes up and lives because Alex needs her sister, needs Kara more than she needs to breathe in that moment, and she can’t live her life without her.

“Come back to me, Sky Girl. I need you to come back. I can’t do any of this without you there to turn to. I need your smile and your laugh and your everything because if I lose you then I have nothing, do you hear me? I won’t have anything and I can’t live like that, okay?”

She sniffles, wipes at her eyes before she kisses Kara’s forehead and stands. She needs to talk to J’onn, to requisition everything she needs to save her, to bring her back safe and whole and perfect.

* * *

 

He looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Let me get this straight, Alex. You want to appropriate as much of L-Corp’s research into nanotechnology as you can to build a functioning Kryptonian heart, a heart which, may I remind you, you have no idea how to build?”

She shrugs. “I can learn on the fly. I had a good look at its composition when I was in surgery with Kara and I should be able to recreate it well enough to attach it to what remains of hers. Besides, it’s not like I’m building the entire thing.”

J’onn keeps staring. She shifts uncomfortably under his gaze.

“Look, I’m not comfortable with the idea of bringing a Luthor into this either, but Kara trusts her and I need someone who’s had experience with this kind of technology to help me with this anyway. It’s the only choice I have, J’onn. I can’t do anything with what I have right now and we both know that Lena Luthor is now the leading source of nanotechnology now that BioMaxx Industries has folded.”

He sighs, looks at her requisition form again.

“Are you sure about all of this? The risks to your sister are too great for you to be unsure.”

Alex straightens in her seat and nods. “I’m absolutely sure. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t even think about it but this is Kara and I’m willing to do anything to bring her back, even put her fate in Lena Luthor’s hands.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.  You’re not being objective about this Alex.”

She grunts. “I don’t care about that. I care about getting my sister back and keeping her alive until the end of time or whenever Kryptonians are supposed to die.  That’s all that matters to me and if this isn’t approved, I’ll go around you and get it myself.”

“And you’re banking on Ms. Luthor giving into your demands because of how much she cares about Kara, I suppose?”

Alex nods stiffly.

“Fine. You have my express permission to let her in on Kara’s identity and to requisition L-Corp resources but…” He sighs. “If anything goes wrong, this is on you. Do I make myself clear?”

She grits her teeth, nods in understanding.

“Perfectly clear, sir.”

J’onn sighs, waves her away. She can feel the old anger, the resentment that fueled her first few months at the D.E.O. once her training started, seeping into her movements, but she doesn’t care. The only thing that matters is healing Kara, protecting Kara and bringing her back. The only thing that matters is saving her sister before it’s too late, and she doesn’t care about any of the protocols she’s about to break to do so.

* * *

 

It’s late when she gets to Lena Luthor’s office, but it doesn’t seem to matter to the other woman. From what Kara’s told her, late is a word that doesn’t have much of a meaning with her. It’s a word that might never have any meaning at all, if the younger woman had her way.

It makes Alex smile grimly. That kind of predictable, easy access is always dangerous, always teetering on the edge of something that can be used against her. No doubt, Lena knows that, has used it against her enemies in the past. She thinks she probably relishes in the idea that this is something she can use to her advantage, that her workaholic tendencies can do her some good when it would otherwise be unhealthy.

Alex almost wants to admire her for that, to grin knowingly and ask how often she does it but she can’t. There are too many fresh memories as she walks in, too many sensory details that she can recall as she walks into the office. She can still feel Kara’s blood on her hands, still see where she’d held her on the carpeted floor, and all she wants to do is turn tail and run, a feat she can’t do like this, can’t do until she gets what she’s come for.

Her hands shake as she walks through the wooden doors, shake so much she has to put them into her pockets as she approaches the woman and throws her badge and ID on the desk. Lena looks at it with a raised eyebrow before pushing it back towards her, a dissatisfied look on her face as she stares at Alex.

“Forgive me for being blunt, Agent Danvers, but I’m not one of the people who tend to be easily fooled by this sort of thing.” She leans back in her seat. “You’re not FBI and you’re certainly not here for an investigation, so please do both of us a favour and drop the act. In the last day alone I’ve been held at gunpoint and watched as one of my few friends was gunned down by men who should not have been able to. I’m not in the mood to suffer fools at the moment.”

Alex swallows, nods as she retrieves her things and stuffs them into her pockets before rocking back on her heels. She’s tired and scared and all she wants is to go back to Kara and keep an eye on her, but she can’t do that yet. She can’t just abandon the mission before it’s over yet and this is a mission, is something she has to do.

She takes a breath, lets it out slowly.

“How much do you know about the D.E.O.?”

Lena surveys her for a moment, makes her shift uncomfortably beneath the other woman’s gaze. She doesn’t like the feeling, doesn’t like the way it seems like she’s seeing right through her, seeing all her deficiencies and cataloguing them as easily as she might some other experiment.

“Not much. I know that it’s an organization that’s been a thorn in Mother’s side for years. That it’s supposed anti-alien agenda has been noticeably shifting towards a more pro-alien take since Supergirl’s arrival and, most importantly, that the Girl of Steel has been working with them for months.”

Alex blinks. “That’s…a lot.”

Lena smirks at her. “Your agency’s cyber security is abysmal. I suggest advising Mr. Schott to upgrade your systems in case of another Coluan attack. We wouldn’t want our nation’s secrets getting out to extremely foreign powers now would we, Agent Danvers? Or should I say Sawyer?”

She motions to the ring on Alex’s hand. Alex has to fight the urge to pull it away from her, has to keep her hand where it is despite the trembling now that it’s out in the opening. Lena seems to notice this as well because she gets up, pours herself a drink before offering Alex one as well.

“For the nerves,” she explains. “It can’t have been easy, seeing your foster sister in such a state.”

“How…?”

“Do you really think her disguise is foolproof?” Lena laughs, low and bitter. “No, my mother thought to tell me as an act of pity this morning, no doubt. Except, I already knew.”

“You already knew.”

“Of course I did, Agent Danvers. Do you really think I wouldn’t think to look for that information as soon as I broke into your agency? Know your friends, know your enemies. It was a favourite philosophy of my father’s, one he ensured I knew at a young age.”

Enemies…friends…but Kara isn’t your enemy. Neither is Supergirl.”

“Kara Danvers?” Lena shakes her head with a smile. “She wouldn’t hurt me but Supergirl and her kind already have.”

“You mean aliens.”

“No, Agent. I mean superheroes.”

Alex chuckles as she watches her drink. “Of course. It was stupid of me to think, given patterns of behavior within your family, that you’d fall in line with the company motto.”

“A motto I’m trying to change.”

“Forgive me for not believing that when I’m staring at plans for a detection device aimed specifically at aliens. Your readings are going to be off, by the way. There’s no way to make something that small register all the genetic markers of every species on this planet, or even this city.”

Lena raises an eyebrow. “And looking for the markers of humans specifically is problematic, at best, given that they can be imitated by other species with a…vested interest, shall we say, in passing as human?”

“Smart woman.”

Lena’s smirk grows as she leans back in her seat. “You don’t make it a habit of underestimating your enemies or your allies, hmm?”

“You’re a friend of my sister’s but your brother and mother would kill her if they could. Underestimating you is a dangerous pastime to be involved in, Lena.”

She nods, seeming to be satisfied. Alex doesn’t know if she really is, if she can be satisfied with that reasoning alone, but she leaves it be, doesn’t question it as long as Lena is willing to play along with her. She can’t question it as long as Kara isn’t awake, isn’t out of danger. She doesn’t have the luxury of doing that.

She pulls her notes out of her bag, sets it on the desk before stepping away from it. She waits, watches as Lena looks at it before looking at her. Alex doesn’t say anything, just lets the tension build as they stare at each other.

“Well, it seems like you need something from me.” She wants to roll her eyes, to point out the obvious here, but she doesn’t, lets Lena continue. “It probably has something to do with Kara, most likely her heart and the condition it must be in. Tell me, how much of it is viable?”

“Maybe thirty percent of it can be saved, possibly less than that if I’m not careful with what I have in mind.”

“And the timeline?”

She swallows. “Days.”

Lena frowns, taps her fingers on the folder. She doesn’t say anything, not yet, but there’s something in her eyes that Alex has seen in the mirror that morning, something that looks and feels like the slow loss of hope as reality sets in.

Finally, she looks up at Alex, jaw clenched for a moment.

“Tell me what you need.”


	4. Chapter 4

She’s tired. She doesn’t know what time it is, doesn’t know how long they’ve been going for, but Lena Luthor feels weary beyond her years. The thought may be a touch dramatic in retrospect, but after the day she’s had, after having to deal with Alex Danvers and the way she can’t seem to settle on anything, the way she glares and glares and makes her feel small in that instant, she feels like she’s earned it.

She isn’t one to feel like this, isn’t one to back down from a challenge, but there’s something about her, something that invites a certain amount of uncertainty into the situation. It’s almost as if agent Danvers is a ticking time bomb and one wrong move will set her off before the clock runs out, will have her exploding for all to see.

It’s something she can’t allow, can’t let happen in her building, among here people. She knows that it’s selfish of her, but she has a reputation to maintain here, and she really does not want to have to deal with the board of investors on such a short fuse. She doesn’t want to have to deal with _Alex_ like this, no matter how much she may like, even respect her sister.

She sighs, puts down the soldering iron she’d been using, and looks at Alex, truly looks at her. The woman is a mess, her clothes rumpled, all outer layers thrown on her couch, while her hair sticks up on places, grease stains all over her skin. While she might have appreciated the image of this lithe, yet muscled, woman in her office, skin exposed to her eyes, another time, now all she can think is that Alex needs sleep, needs to get some form of rest.

“You should go.”

“Excuse me?”

She sighs. The woman is as prickly as she is beautiful and Lena wants to bang her head against the wall for forgetting that.

“Agent Danvers, we have been working on the carrier for the nanites for more than thirty six hours without rest. I understand that we’re working with a deadline but neither of us will benefit from a lack of sleep, not to mention I have a very important board meeting in…” She checks her watch and frowns, not realizing how much time had truly passed. “Well, I have a meeting in less than five hours that could decide the future of this company’s excursion into this very technology. We both need a break.”

“Look. I get that you have a company to run, but Kara is in danger and-“

“A few hours won’t speed her to death. You said that her drop in vitals was so gradual that only someone who was particularly invested in it would notice, correct?”

Alex sighs. “Yes, that’s right.”

“Exactly. This is going nowhere right now and we both need to rest. I suggest we come back to it after my board meeting. Maybe then we can make some progress.”

The other woman wavers, looks from the machine they’re building to Lena and back again before nodding and looking away. Lena exhales in relief and begins to tidy their workbench, not wanting to leave a mess for whoever comes next.

“We’ll meet here in ten hours, Luthor. I don’t care if you have to cut your board meeting short in order to get here. Kara’s life is in danger and I need to get this done before we reach the critical point-“

“Or else she’ll be inoperable. I know. You’ve given me the same spiel every four hours. Get some rest, Alex. Kara is depending on you being able to stay awake without falling apart to save her.”

“I hate that you make a lot more sense than you actually should right now.”

Lena smiles. If agent Danvers can make jokes, maybe there’s hope for whatever future acquaintance they have yet. She may have use for her mind, for a mind with such an understanding of the things that Lena wants to do, may have need of her in the future. She would like to keep this relationship, would like to put it to use eventually, and having her interact like this is something she’s excited about.

* * *

 

She has to hold back the urge to groan an hour later when her assistant ushers Detective Sawyer in. She knows that she should be asleep, but she has so much work to do and fielding officers of the law when she’s already running on a short fuse isn’t something she’s particularly thrilled about.

Still, she needs to put on a smile, needs to be friendly and accessible to the good detective. It wouldn’t do to have the infamous Luthor aloofness come out now, wouldn’t do to turn her away when she’s already doing something that might not yet be legal for someone she’s not even sure likes her.

“Detective,” she says, rising from her seat. “How can I help you?”

Sawyer doesn’t take the hand she holds out, looks around the office, as if inspecting it for something that Lena can’t see. It makes her bristle a little, that familiar distrust rankling her this early in the morning.

“I’m told Alex Danvers was here for over thirty six hours?”

“Uh, yes. Yes she was.” She’s caught by surprise, has no idea why this might matter to the detective. “She was consulting on a joint project of ours. Why do you ask?”

“Miss Danvers has been declared missing.”

“It’s only been an hour since she left. Maybe she decided to make a detour. She did have some…personal business to attend to.”

“And you are aware of the nature of that business?”

She leans back, looks at Detective Sawyer calculatingly. She shifts from side to side, looks everywhere but actually at her. She might have thought that it was just in her nature, but Lena remembers her arrest, remembers how focused the detective was on her when she’d come for her. She knows, somehow, that this isn’t her doing her job, that this is something else entirely.

“Might I ask if you have any reason to question me, detective? I’m just Miss Danvers’ business associate. Or is it my name that led you here?”

“Ever get tired of that line?”

“Constantly, but that doesn’t make it any less true that it is the source of your suspicions, does it?”

Detective Sawyer snorts, but she doesn’t deny it as she circles the desk, looks down at her. Lena meets her gaze with her own steel, her back straight, posture perfect. She doesn’t want to give anything away, doesn’t want this woman to think that she intimidates her when the opposite is true, when she’s faced every kind of opponent she can think about.

“What exactly do you want, Detective? I have several things to prepare for, not the least of which is today’s board meeting, and not a lot of time to prepare with. I’d prefer it if we could get the accusations out of the way so that I can get on with the business of running my company.”

“Danvers was seen leaving your building and then nowhere else. Normally, we’d chalk it up to her being late but there are people she works for who are interested in knowing why she’d disappear off the grid completely.”

She brings her fingers together on her desk and looks at Detective Sawyer. Finally, they’re getting somewhere.

“I should believe that the D.E.O. has some kind of technology to track their agents.”

If Sawyer is surprised, she doesn’t let it show, and Lena has to give her that. It’s refreshing, almost, except she knows that she already has the game, that her knowledge places her far ahead of the competition.

“I can assure you, Detective Sawyer, if I wanted to keep Agent Danvers here, she never would have made it to the door. I don’t need to resort to petty kidnapping to get what I want.”

“I have no doubt of that, but I also know that people you work with tend to end up in unfortunate situations, kind of like Max Lord’s employees.”

She grimaces at the comparison, lets her disgust show. She’s not thrilled by the comparison, would rather be compared to her brother, if she could choose.

“Maxwell Lord is nothing but an egomaniac with a nine figure bank account. I can assure you, everything at L-Corp is above-board and completely legal. I will, however, have no problem with making my resources available to both the police and the D.E.O. Agent Danvers is a brilliant woman and I’d hate to see her mind fall into the wrong hands.”

Sawyer regards her for a moment before huffing, looking away. Lena resists the urge to smile, just barely. She knows that she’s won already, that her offer is the last nail in the coffin, but she still has a role to play, still needs to keep her calm. She can’t let herself revel in her triumph just yet.

The detective looks around the room once more, huffs a little. Lena gives her the space to do as she pleases, lets her do what she needs to as she pulls one of the thick ledgers on her desk towards her and opens it. If she must deal with this intrusion into her safe space, she’ll do as she always has, will work through it until Sawyer decides that it’s time to leave.

When she does go, Lena breathes out, pages Jess to come in. She doesn’t want to have to do this, doesn’t want to jeopardise L-Corp like this, but finding Alex Danvers has moved up in her list of priorities.

* * *

 

The man who leads her through the agency’s building is silent, his expression blank. She recognizes a good poker face, has always been good at figuring people out beyond that initial expression, but Lena can’t read him, can’t get a good impression of him. It’s almost as if he expects this, as if he’s used to dealing with people like her. She supposes he is, supposes he might have actually had to deal with those like her before.

It makes a certain kind of sense, she thinks as she keeps her eyes ahead of her. It’s almost perverse, the kind of sense it does make, if her theory proves to be true. However, she’s working on building the kind of trust that would give her access to that sort of information. Seeking it out now would not only destroy what little progress she’s made, but bar her from any further knowledge. She can’t afford to have that happen now.

“Where are you taking me?” she asks instead, doesn’t look around. If she wants to find out more, to help Alex and Kara, she needs to play by their rules, let them think they have the upper hand for the moment. “It would be easier to prepare if I knew what I was preparing for Agent…Campbell, was it?”

He grunts.

“Director Lane wants to debrief you before allowing you anywhere near Alex’s case. She needs to make sure you’re good people.”

Lena snorts. “’Good people’? Is that how they’re training agents now?”

He turns, bows with a flourish. “I can be charming if that’s what you wish, my lady. However, now isn’t the time for that, I don’t think. After, we can get to know each other better, if you know what I mean.”

She smiles, charmed despite herself. “As flattering as that does not sound, my heart belongs to Agent Danvers. On an intellectual level, of course.”

She falters a little at that, the memory of Jack still fresh in her mind. She misses him, misses the easy charm with which he’d flirt, the way he managed to get back into her heart by being that little bit more romantic without prompting.

“Ah, I see you’ve got some painful memories there. Nothing a good drink and a friendly ear can’t fix, if you ever feel up to it.”

She laughs.

“If I need an ear I’ll be sure to remember you but I can assure you, it’s not necessary.”

“A friend then? Not that many to go around when everyone thinks you got in based on who your dad is.”

Lena’s eyes widen. “Wait. Campbell…Campbell…you’re related to Senator Russel Campbell?”

His smile is sardonic. “His one and only son, at your service, ma’am, and I mean that literally. I’m your assigned escort for as long as you’re here.”

She pauses at that, looks him over. He’s charming but there’s something darker there, something Lena recognizes. He might be useful in the future, if not as a friend then as a connection to the D.E.O. and Alex.

A part of her feels bad for thinking of him this way, for thinking of anyone like that, really, but she knows what her name means, knows that connections are everything. She needs this, needs people like him if she is to fix her company and family’s image and she feels no regret in pursuing that goal. Knowing who he is now, she’s sure that he understands this better than most.

“This Director Lane,” she begins as she continues to follow him, “wouldn’t be related to Lois Lane, would she?”

“The one and only. Why?”

“Just thinking about my last run in with one of her family members.”

She shudders at the recollection, remembers the disdain the general had had for her. She knows that she’s not her mother, that she’s not her brother, but she’d still felt small under his gaze, still felt like she wasn’t worth anything in his eyes even after all she had done. It’s not a feeling she relishes nor one she wants to relive if she can help it. This meeting will go in her direction. It has to.

She’s led into a steel grey room. There are no obvious cameras, but she can still feel that familiar sensation of being watched, can still feel the eyes on her, weighing her, judging her. She doesn’t like it, doesn’t want it, but Lena straightens her back, sets her lips as she sits down.

She refuses to let them intimidate her, refuses to cower before anyone who dares to judge her on her name and not her merit. She deserves more than that, finally realizes it now that she’s known the Danvers sisters, and she’s not going to let that stop her from helping.

A tiny slip of a woman shuffles in, her dark hair hiding her face as she looks down at the stack of folders in her arms. She recognizes her vaguely, remembers her from parties long forgotten in other ways. She straightens more, tangles her fingers on the table as she gazes at her, waiting.

She’s familiar with this woman but she’s also hesitant. Little Lucy Lane has never been much of a favourite with her, often overlooked for the danger of her older sister, but Lena sees the mistake in that view now, sees the flaw in her perspective as the woman turns to her. She swallows, lets no other show of her trepidation out as Lucy smirks.

“Lena Luthor. Welcome to the D.E.O.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note. This story is no longer Alex/Maggie/Kara. I started off with that intention but the demands of the story mean I don't know how to work Maggie into it properly, so I don't feel comfortable including her in my main pairing. Sorry guys.


End file.
